Translator: Nyoi-Bo Studio Editor: Nyoi-Bo Studio
Qingcheng walked over to Xiaojiu and the other wolves.
Her red lips parted, and the beautiful voice that filled the air was very pleasant to the ears. “Good morning. Thanks for last night, everyone. Where’s Tealwood?”
But after several moments, she didn’t get any response. Just when Qingcheng thought that something was wrong with them, a voice finally responded to her.
The other party sounded rather cautious as he spoke, asking, “You’re Qingcheng?”
Qingcheng spun around and saw that it was the strange man in white. She looked at him more carefully and found that, while he did look more handsome than average, she definitely didn’t know who this was.
“That’s right. Do you know me?” Her voice was cold and distant.
“I’m Tealwood!” The other party was excited and overjoyed.
The pack of wolves on her other side was in a daze from looking at Qingcheng, and they finally snapped out of it.
They all started howling excitedly, “That’s right! That’s right! That’s our boss! He’s our boss!”
When Qingcheng stepped out of the cave, Tealwood and the other wolves had sensed her. But when they saw how she had completely transformed, they looked at her in disbelief and went into a daze. Her graceful figure sashayed towards them in a white dress that flew in the wind like a goddess’s, and her facial features made her look like she had stepped out of a painting. She looked like a fairy. Even though the wolves were Magical Beasts, they were completely mesmerized by her, and they were simply unable to connect her to the person they had seen just a day ago.
When Qingcheng found out that the other party was Tealwood, she was surprised as well. Her voice sounded unsure as she said, “You’re Tealwood? Then you…?”
Tealwood excitedly replied to her, “I’ve leveled up! I reached Sacred Beast level last night, so I can take on the form of a human! How is it? Don’t you think I’m so handsome now…?” Tealwood couldn’t help but throw in a narcissistic remark about himself.
Qingcheng was surprised. “You’ve leveled up? Congratulations! Indeed, you don’t look too bad at all.” She had seen too many good-looking men in her previous life, both those who were born that way and those who went under the knife, so she was quite tired of handsome faces. Besides, she wasn’t the sort to get all excited over men in the first place. She was sincerely happy for Tealwood since he had reached Sacred level.
But Tealwood felt a little embarrassed and shyly said, “This is all thanks to the meat you roasted for us! Last night, all of us leveled up! We’re the ones who should be saying thanks!”
Xiaojiu and the other wolves also expressed their appreciation to her. The lowest cultivation level among this pack of wolves was at Level Four Preliminary Stage, while the highest among them was at Level Five. All this was thanks to Qingcheng.
After that, Tealwood recounted everything that happened after he had leveled up to Qingcheng.
This surprised her, as well. The effect of the Sacred Spirit Spring was extraordinary, indeed. Now that Tealwood had become the king of the Langya Magical Beast Forest, she was happy for him too.
Tealwood looked seriously at Qingcheng and said, “I would like to establish a bond with you…” He was a little nervous when he said this. Also, he realized that after just one night, Qingcheng was already able to cultivate, and he wasn’t able to tell what cultivation level she was at.
“Establish a bond with me? Why?” Qingcheng wanted to clarify things since it was extremely rare for a Sacred Beast to be willing to be bonded to a human. On top of that, he had taken the initiative to ask to establish this bond, so of course, this was all very strange.
Tealwood looked at her very seriously. “That’s because you have a power that makes me want to become close to you. I can also sense that your aura has become stronger, too. I know that as of last night, you were still unable to cultivate. I have a strong hunch that you are the only one who is qualified to become my master.”
After hearing Tealwood say this, Qingcheng got straight to the point, saying, “Do you know that I am someone hated? And that I already died once yesterday? Right now, I face the risk of being hunted down at any moment. So, do you still want to establish a bond with me?” Of course, Tealwood interpreted her mention of death as a non-literal one.
But he didn’t give up and sounded even more certain now. “Yes! I believe you will mature, and you will reach even higher heights and go even further than this continent can go. I will become your most immovable shield and your sharpest sword!”
“Alright!” She didn’t hesitate anymore. She now gave off the aura of a king that, and she seemed to have been born with it.
“One day, I will rise to become the most powerful person on this continent and make everyone look up to me! I will also prove that you have made the right judgment!” It was a promise, and it was also confidence in herself. Her red lips curled upwards into a dazzling and mesmerizing smile.
It was so dazzling that Tealwood, Xiaojiu, and the other wolves were in a daze once more…
“Ahem, ahem… we can start establishing the bond, then. You just need to put a drop of blood on my forehead and it’ll work…” Once he finished saying that, there was a bright flash of light, and Tealwood regained his original body.
He lay prostrate on the ground and lowered his gigantic wolf head. Qingcheng squeezed a drop of blood out of her finger and dabbed it on Tealwood’s forehead. In an instant, a massive symbol of a star shone brightly on the ground that Tealwood and Qingcheng stood on to represent the establishment of a bond between a Magical Beast and a human. The bright star flashed once more and then disappeared.
Once the bond was established, Qingcheng felt that her dantian had filled and was going to burst at any moment. She immediately sat down cross-legged on the ground, and Tealwood immediately protected her when he saw this.
…ZZING…
Spirit Mentor Tier Six, and she was not done yet. After another few moments.
…ZZING…
Spirit Mentor Tier Seven. After leveling up two levels consecutively, the whole process slowly came to a stop. Qingcheng only opened her eyes after some time had passed.
She said to Tealwood, who had remained by her side to protect her, “I didn’t expect that establishing a bond with you could help me level up as well. But I’ve gone up in level too quickly in one night, and my foundation isn’t very stable. I’ll go into the forest to train myself and solidify my cultivation level for a few days. Your Sacred Beast aura makes the other Magical Beasts too afraid to come out, so you don’t have to come with me. If I need anything, I’ll call for you.” After she was done saying this, she got up and started walking into the woods.
Tealwood suddenly felt like he wasn’t loved anymore. “Sometimes, being at a high level of cultivation isn’t a good thing…”
Then he suddenly thought of something and quickly shouted after her, “Master! Wait! I can just call them out to fight with you!”
“Oh?” Qingcheng spun around on the spot to look at Tealwood and recalled that he was now the king of this forest. Doing this would save her the trouble of going out into the forest to find some Magical Beasts to fight.
So, she agreed immediately, saying, “Sure, that would work too.”
At the same time, she started to think about other matters. Increasing her own cultivation level wasn’t enough. She also needed to groom her own team and expand her influence. With more trump cards in hand, she would be better prepared to deal with those people. After all, sometimes, there were simply too many unknown variables, and she hated doing anything she wasn’t confident of!
“Tell them to come tomorrow. I want Magical Beasts of differing attributes, anything between Level Three and Level Five.” With that, she walked back into the cave.
Tealwood listened to the instructions of his master, then directed Xiaojiu to send these orders out.
……
In the herb garden of the bangle interspace.
Qingcheng pulled out the encyclopedia of herbs and pill formulas, then started reading them very quickly.
She wasn’t unfamiliar with herbs. There were some in this universe that could actually revive a dead person. Most of the herbs here were meant to be refined into pills for oral use. Pills were made by adding various herbs into a pill furnace, then refined by a special fire made from Spirit Qi. One had to use their own energy and focus to control the flame, get rid of any impurities to get only the essence, and finally, coagulate all of this into a pill.
Pills were also split into different grades, and those who refined pills were commonly called Alchemists.
In order to become an Alchemist, you first had to be a cultivator. At the same time, you had to possess both fire and wood attributes. Having the wood attribute could help one communicate with plants, differentiate herbs, and become more sensitive to their properties. Having the fire attribute was useful for controlling the fire made from Spirit Qi when refining pills, and that was very important in being able to refine and draw out the essence of the herbs.